Winter Blues

With 2014 now well underway the most common topic of conversation seems to be when is this spell of prolonged bad weather going to end?


Whilst Bicester is luckier than most with our well drained airfield, even it has started to become water logged after months of heavy and persistent rain fall, even some of the old hands comment that they have never seen puddles on the airfield in places which are now frequented by ducks.


Our winter bronze lectures are well underway and so far have been extremely well attended, the amount of youngsters coming through the club at the moment only bodes well for the future, especially now that our long term future at the site is secure.


Despite the weather, and the fact that it is not forecast to change anytime soon there has been plenty of flying. Our new Skylaunch is now fully commissioned and on some runs we are now seeing nearly 2000' launches


The club also takes a good fleet into the new year with Two Astirs, a Discus, two K21's, two motor gliders, a K8 or two and hand full of K13's and we have already had several days this year with over 90 launches, despite the late start and early finishes.


Looking forward Bicester is also hosting its own GP in May and our regionals in August will feature the GP format which thanks to OJ and his team has caught on a treat.


Our CFI and senior instructors are getting people ready for EASA with cloud flying seminars and flying, and also providing guidance with paperwork


So hopefully over the next few weeks the weather will improve and I swear if I hear anyone complaining about the heat this summer there will be a few choice words spoken..

First Proper XC day

So it looks as though March 14th 2013 was the first proper XC day of the year.

One 450km, several 300's and tons to one and two hundred K's done.

My view of it was restricted to the sky I could see out of my office window but it looked pretty much as forecast, Cu started around 9:30am and by lunch time the sky over Booker was absolutely Booming, this was mirrored by some of the 5k+ hieghts I saw on traces. It seemd to cloud over by mid afternoon but on the drive home it still looked to be working south of the M4.

Gutted I missed it and I look forward to a day where I can just rock up at the airfield when the weather looks good.

Oh well on duty on Sunday and it looks as though my trial lessons will be dodging wintery showers.

Spring is in the air

There was definitely an air of spring on the airfield this afternoon, people were in lightweight jumpers, the sun was out and I definitely saw three gliders stacked in a thermal. Unfortunately for me an accident while in the States has messed up my shoulder so I am out for at least another week or two, then I have to do checks as its been so long.

No firm news on the airfield yet, as of April we will be paying the new landlord despite not actually knowing who they are yet, but I am sure that all will be revealed and it will pan out for the best.

We have the 18m nationals this year and the entries list is filling up nicely, we also have our own regionals in which both our K21's the Astir and Discus will be taking part (I am looking for crew still by the way) Hopefully we will enjoy the same weather we have over the past few years. the sports and open class entry list is looking healthy with probably only ten or so places left in each category.

The Bronze team are making progress with the lectures and it will so be time for soaring flights and general flying tests, there are several expeditions being planned and people are planning to take our new K21 ESB to other sites to fly.

Lee

Girls on Gliding

So one of our female members has been getting involved with the "women glide" movement. They seem like a motivated bunch being lead by some world class female pilots.

Anyway she has taken to the bloggosphere to keep a diary of her flying activities so you can catch up with what she's been up to here.

http://gliderpilotdiary.blogspot.co.uk/

January flying

So, our recent young solo pilots Alistar Emson (15) and Callum Lavender (14) have enjoyed some gready publicity, with Callum and his dad making it as far as the BBC national news sofa. They have also enjoyed some good flying and both boys have successfully converted to the K8.

The weather this winter has been shocking and with a mild SW flow the rainfall has been well above average. Thats where our airfield really comes into its own, we have a stream running underneath it which drains the 300+ acres beautifully, so while all the other clubs around us are shut down we are still flying in between the rain filled low pressure systems.

Our courses for 2013 are now posted, we also have the 18m nats this year as well as our very own regionals on which we flew 8 out of 9 days last year, actually one of the best weeks weatherwise throughout the entire year.

We will also be running the cadet scheme again this year, we have spaces for up to four youngsters aged 15-17 to come and learn to fly with us while being subsidised by the club, all you need is a good attitude, a desire to learn to fly and the willingness to give up some time and help around the club.

Roll on spring...

Seeing in the new year

Over Christmas all was a little quiet around the club, as new years day drew closer and closer it seem like we may not achieve another traditional start to the year by flying on new years day. The weather looked good and after a couple of rounds of email and facebook plugging we had enough people to do some flying.

Kicking off around 10am we got out the K21 and K8 along with the tug and winch. While people were dusting of the cobwebs in the K8 Nigel Henry, an ab-initio who joined us last year, was having some check rides in the K21. After a couple of check flights he was cleared for solo and BGC gained its first new solo pilot of 2013.

a couple of us took a 5 grand aerotow in the K21 for some aerobatic fun and the video of the days events can be seen on my you tube page - http://www.youtube.com/user/lhitchins?feature=mhee

We managed around 20 winch launches, 1 5k aerotow and a first solo...not a bad way to kick off the year

Happy new year to you all.

Passenger to pilot windrushers style

As I sit here writing this post one eye is on my mailbox waiting for my official instructor rating number thingy to arrive. After spending this past glorious Sunday get put through the ringer by our CFI he sees fit to allow me to carryout basic instruction...

Alan Smith carried out my prep work, from motor glider flights for learning patter to 3000' aero tows to carry out stalling and spinning exercises. He signed me off as good to go so I must of held it together.

The course was to be run over two days and consisted of 3 pupils, a full cat to help out (Ian Pattingale) and our regional examiner (David williams) we would be doing a mix of flying and classroom work to help us work around what is sure to be dodgy October weather. Day one was bright and sunny an boy was it windy 40kts + at 2000' the first flight went off on a stalling and spinning flight and quickly got into a scrape back from downwind...eek no time for a circuit. The flights for me went ok, a repeat of the prep flights really I did, being a tight bast**d manage to fit all of the exercises into a single Aerotow with Ian, his head was spinning by the time we landed... As the next day was forecast to be pants we did all the flying in the first day and spent the second in the class room going over the theory of basic instructing. David happily signed off my paperwork and I then had to wait a few weeks to get a Sunday where I could go and do my check flights with our CFI, pulling the bung on an aerotow at 200' was the highlight of my check rides.

ooo the mail has just popped in, I am now able to carry out basic instruction!!!